First serial Airbus H160 joins certification test fleet

The first serial Airbus H160 helicopter to roll off the brand new assembly line in Marignane performed a flight demonstration on the 17 December in front of the H160 team in an end-of-the-year celebration of the programme’s achievements in 2018.

The helicopter,
which will be delivered to launch customer Babcock in 2020, had already
performed its first flight on the 14 December.

The aircraft’s
unique livery is a testimony to the several hundred people working towards the
platform’s certification at the end of next year, the programme’s industrial
maturity, and its seamless entry into service as they have all signed the
helicopter.

The first serial aircraft will join the three prototypes, which have already accumulated over a 1000 flight hours, in the final steps of the flight test campaign.